If you approach Pilou Asbæk in the hope of meeting a version of Kasper Juul,
the troubled political spin doctor he plays in Danish TV series Borgen,
you’ll be disappointed. There are signs of Kasper’s obsessiveness: to
prepare for his recent role as a ship’s chef in the film A Hijacking,
a drama about Somali pirates, the 31-year old actor reveals he worked for “a
couple of months” in a restaurant. And the good looks are in evidence, of
course.

But they are rather obscured, when he arrives for his photoshoot in East
London, by an extravagantly scruffy beard. (“I